The King is Here?

A young and poor couple delivers a baby in a stable with an audience of farm animals. Maybe that was more of a common story over 2,000 years ago. Who cares? Why do we celebrate this birth every Winter with family celebrations, card and gift exchanges, and extra sugar? Only a few people knew about this birth.

Gabriel, the Archangel, tells Mary it is about to happen to her because she has found favor with God according to Luke 1:30-33. He says:

“Do not be afraid, Mary…You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his Kingdom will never end.”

In verse 35, the angel continued, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called[a] the Son of God.” The angel also proclaims the miracle that Elizabeth, Mary’s older cousin, is pregnant despite years of barrenness because “For with God nothing shall be impossible”. (Luke 1:36-37).

Mary quickly travels to the hill country of Judea to visit her older cousin, who is 6 months pregnant with John the Baptist. According to Luke 1:41, when she “heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit”. She knew about Baby Jesus and said to Mary, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear!” (Luke 1:42).

An angel of the Lord also appears to Joseph after he was about to quietly divorce Mary from their engagement in Matthew 1:20-21. During a dream, Joseph is told to “not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

Joseph may see his family when he and Mary go to Bethlehem, so the relatives probably know about the birth. But, did they know this newest relative was fully God and fully man?

Angels visit the shepherds in the field and tell them:

“Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” (Luke 2:10-12) To add to the glory that shone around the shepherds, they then saw a multitude of “heavenly hosts…praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.’ “ (Luke 2:11-14)

After the Shepherds hurry to find Joseph, Mary, and Baby Jesus and confirm that the angels spoke the truth, they spread the word about the angels and God’s goodness of the birth of their Savior.

When Joseph and Mary dedicate their baby at the Temple, Simeon and Anna recognize that Jesus is the Messiah. In Luke 2:25, we are told that Simeon is righteous, devout, and “waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah.” When Simeon sees Joseph and Mary, he takes Jesus “in his arms and

praised God, saying: ‘Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.’” (Luke 2:27-32) While the parents are amazed at the words spoken about their child by a stranger, Simeon blesses them and gives the ominous foretelling that “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.” (Luke 2:34-35)

The prophet, Anna, was an 84-year-old widow who “never left the temple but worshiped night and day fasting and praying” (Luke 2:36-37). Along with Simeon, she recognizes her Savior and “gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem” (Luke 2:38).

I’ve heard different timing about the Wise Men’s visit to Jesus after following the star. Is it immediately after Jesus’ birth or closer to when he is two years old? At this moment today, it doesn’t matter. Their roles were to bring gifts that symbolized Jesus as a king (gold used as a valuable resource to help this young family flee away from Herod to Egypt), a divine priest (frankincense normally used as a temple incense), and a sacrificial savior (myrrh that was an embalming spice). You can read about the Magi’s visit and Herod in Matthew 2:1-18.

What is also important is that according to Matthew 2:16-18, their presence and declaration that a new king of the Jews has arrived makes King Herod of Judea even more angry and crazy. His pride causes his violent response to have all boys killed who are two years old and younger in Bethlehem and surrounding territory.

Now we have established the cast of the beginning of the greatest rescue mission of all mankind. This group includes Heavenly beings along with members of all classes of society: a young couple, poor shepherds, older people who focus on God, wealthy Magi, and a prideful Earthly king.

Mary is the only one who will be there when the grand victory of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection and our liberation from sin occur. The key players then include the Disciples.

My goal is to write monthly throughout 2026 about these 12 chosen men. At this milestone of Jesus’ miraculous birth in a dirty, noisy stable with no modern medical personnel or equipment, what is going on with the Disciples? They probably are not born yet. I believe that none of them are from Bethlehem, but is it possible that their parents have gone there to pay taxes just like Joseph and Mary? Do any of the Disciples have an older brother, cousin, or family friend who is murdered by King Herod’s horrific decree simply because they are a male that is 2 years or younger? Although these Disciples may never have met those victims, their parents may have or at least had heard about these tragedies. All of the Disciples come from Jewish families who probably knew and/or memorized the Scriptures foretelling the Messiah’s birth and victorious kingdom. They must have been expecting a rich king who would overthrow the Roman Empire and make their lives more satisfying. This helpless baby in a manger, however, is probably not deemed worthy of their time or the sacrifice of the male babies. Now that I’m asking these questions, I will make a note to look up these Disciples’ families when I get to Heaven and ask them what they did or did not know about Jesus’ birth. I’m sure their perspectives would be interesting and give me a bigger picture of this phenomenal story.

Before we end this chapter, I want to address that this season in all of its beauty and goodwill can also be challenging emotionally. It seems like most people know someone who died near Christmas. Negative childhood memories can be triggers, along with unfulfilled expectations, financial woes, exhaustion, and the lack of sunshine in this season.

I will leave you with a challenge. For a few moments, take away all of the commercialism and human anticipation and expectations. Let’s put all of our focus on the reason for the season: Jesus. Can you go through the alphabet and use each letter to represent a different name of Jesus? For example, A = Alpha or Adonai (Hebrew name for God that means “Master” or “My Lord”). B = Bread of Life (John 6:35) Bright Morning Star (Revelation 22:16). A couple of weeks ago, I was driving to work and thinking about all that needed to be accomplished throughout the day and week. I noticed my heart rate was speeding up. So I decided to change my perspective and focus on Jesus. By the time I went through the alphabet and reminded myself of His

names, I was so calm. My heart beat slowly, and I was ready to embrace the day with a positive attitude.

With all of the world’s nonsense swirling around us, I think we all need to sit in Jesus’ presence while He relaxes us and reminds us that He’s in control. We’re characters living in His story. If 2020-2025 has any indication of what 2026 will be like, we can assume there will be tragedy, frustration, adventures, laughter, and beauty. Can you embrace the good and bad equally knowing that Jesus uses them to refine and mature us. If viewed through the Holy Spirit’s eyes, we’ll see that we fall more in love with Jesus and not on the good things He does for us.

Until we meet again for the next part of this amazing story, I pray your new year gets off to a joyful and peaceful start. Happy New Year!

To be continued…